


Ignite the Flames of Love

by XiuChen4Ever



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Veterinarians, Dragons, Fluff, M/M, Matchmaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:42:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26592355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XiuChen4Ever/pseuds/XiuChen4Ever
Summary: Queenie the dragon is very good at matchmaking, which is very lucky for the people she decides to help.
Relationships: Background Relationship: - Relationship, Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Minseok | Xiumin, Kim Jongin | Kai/Lee Taemin, Wu Yi Fan | Kris/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay
Comments: 13
Kudos: 71
Collections: K-Pop Ficmix 2020





	Ignite the Flames of Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nasaplates](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nasaplates/gifts).
  * Inspired by [fire and kisses](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21271802) by [nasaplates](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nasaplates/pseuds/nasaplates). 



> Dear author,
> 
> I was absolutely enchanted by Kris and Queenie in fire and kisses, and I just had to write more to their story. It quickly became _her_ story mainly, because dragons do as they wish and I am a mere instrument. I had lots of fun imagining things from her perspective. In the original story, she's an endearing combination of clever (tricking Kris into bringing her to the vet, locking them in the room, etc.) and naive (not realizing that melting a doorknob is maybe not the best idea), and I tried to keep that up in this fic.
> 
> Queenie's targets were pulled from the top two non-Kris or Yixing couples you've written, which I'm hoping means you'll enjoy seeing them find their own bit of love, even if there's not much onscreen FanXing in this remix. Thanks so much for crafting such a fun AU and letting me play with it!

#  💘🔥💘

The first time Queenie had set up a love match hadn't been meant to set a precedent. It had just been so obvious that her Chosen wanted to be closer to the nice veterinarian, and she hated seeing him sigh longingly between telling her repeatedly how handsome and sweet Doctor Yixing was, sometimes even in his sleep. The vet isn't as handsome and sweet as her Chosen, of course—no one is—but he's generous with chocolate and praise and knows just how to stroke Queenie's scales without having to be taught. Her Chosen could certainly do worse.

So Queenie had tried to get them to admit they liked each other by encouraging her Chosen to take her in to see the vet. When that hadn't worked the easy way, she'd locked them in a room together until they finally did the lip-wrestling thing that the humans always do in the dramas her Chosen watches. She had, of course, regretted that her Chosen had burned his hand in the process, but he'd healed quickly thanks to the nice vet that is now her Chosen's mate.

They've been together for several months now, and her Chosen seems really,really happy, which makes Queenie happy, too, even though they make her stay out of the bedroom when they do their human mating things and she has to curl up on top of the radiator instead of snuggling between the nice warm humans where she properly belongs. But she's willing to make some sacrifices for her beloved Chosen, because he so clearly thrives now that he has both the most beautiful, loving dragon and a suitable human mate.

Humans don't all seem to want mates, and some people who want mates aren't exactly human. So it's a very convenient thing that dragons can always see the truth of a being's aura, and that Queenie happens to be visiting Yixing’s veterinary clinic with her Chosen on the day the little human with the upturned eyebrows brings in his listless feline.

Queenie had encountered this pair before, when she'd had the hiccups as an infant. She vaguely remembers their widened eyes, one set brown, the other blue, as the man had curled protectively around his pet while ducking one of Queenie's accidental firepuffs.

She'd been a little distracted at the time, but she'd still noticed that they'd both had contented auras that had only spiked with alarm in response to the potential scorching. Now, the feline's aura is dull and fuzzy, and the man's is jagged with anxiety as he shifts from foot to foot in the waiting room, cradling the limp feline to his chest.

"Something's really wrong with Snowy, Doc," the man blurts, not even waiting to be shown into a room. "It must have started Friday? I-I brought a guest home, and Snowy attacked him, yowling the whole time like some kind of banshee, it was really eerie! He literally chased my guest around until I managed to throw a blanket over him and scoop him up safely, but I think I must have injured him somehow? I feel so awful—Snowy hasn't moved or eaten or anything since then, he just lies there staring at nothing for so long his poor eyes get all watery and—"

"Slow down, Jongdae," Yixing says, voice soothing as always. "I will do my best to help Snowy—hello, Queenie, dear. No, don't bother the patients, Snowy doesn't feel well and he might—" 

But Queenie evades the vet's attempts to grab her, stretching her neck up toward the dull-eyed feline.  _ What's wrong? _ she asks, pitching her voice soft and low.

"Aww, it's sweet that you're concerned, Queenie," Yixing says, reaching for her again, "but I need to—"

_ My Dae wants to replace me, _ the feline meows back, language distinct from Queenie's own but similar enough to be mutually intelligible.  _ I can never be enough for him like this. _

Queenie frowns.  _ Not enough? Like what? _ The human certainly seems devoted to his pet, pressing worried kisses between the feline's fuzzy white ears.

"...Are they actually talking to each other?" Snowy's human asks. He's clutching the feline more tightly, half turned away from Queenie like she might emit more firepuffs at any moment. 

_ Like this,  _ Snowy mews.  _ Like a dumb, useless cat instead of someone my Dae can be properly intimate with. Someone who can take care of him like he deserves.  _

_ Then use your human form,  _ Queenie suggests. She understands why it's nice to be a pet—she'd Chosen a human herself, after all—but if the feline shifter isn't happy as a cat, it makes little sense to live his life as one.

"...I think they  _ are _ talking," Yixing says.

Snowy's Dae looks back and forth between feline and dragon, jaw dropped, then lifts his gaze to Queenie's Chosen. "Can you understand what they're saying?"

"Me? No, I mean, sometimes if Queenie really wants to tell me something, I can kind of get a sense of it from tone and body language, and sometimes her noises even sound like words—"

_ I can't shift,  _ Snowy whines.  _ I pissed off the wrong witch a few years ago and now there's a stupid silver collar embedded in my damn neck. I was so lucky to find a guy as caring as my Dae to take me in, but whenever I try to claw the collar out, he just puts a damn cone on my head and brings me here to get ointment. I've stopped trying—he gets so worried about me, and I thought we were happy enough together, but... _

Queenie tilts her head when the feline trails off.  _ But then he brought home someone else? _

The noise the feline makes in response is so miserable that everyone in the room can surely understand. Indeed, Snowy's Dae makes tiny sympathetic noises, pressing his nose to the feline's fur.

_ I can try to get the collar out, _ Queenie offers, now able to link the divot in the feline's aura to the restriction around his neck.  _ My teeth are very strong and sharp. _

Snowy's ears prick up, and he squirms free of his Dae's grapple. He hops down and runs over to Queenie, lowering his head to allow her to probe the fur of his neck with her slender snout.

_ "No!" _

Yixing shouts when Queenie's teeth break the feline's skin, drawing bright blood to the surface and a low hiss from Snowy's throat. The vet dives to separate them, colliding with Snowy's Dae, who'd also launched for his pet with a yell. The resulting kerfuffle lasts just long enough for Queenie to bite deep enough to get her eyetooth hooked around the slim band of silver beneath Snowy's skin.

But then her Chosen is squeezing the corners of her mouth as Snowy's Dae pulls his pet into his arms again, aura nearly neon with his distress. Queenie releases the silver band to avoid strangling the poor feline in the struggle, huffing dismissively at her Chosen's admonishments of her "aggressive behavior."

_ Sorry,  _ she rumbles at the bleeding feline, once again clutched tightly to his human's chest. _ It was thicker than I expected.  _

_ Thanks for trying, _ Snowy sighs back, eyes watery.

"Let me see, Jongdae, let me  _ see," _ Yixing is saying, trying to uncover enough of the feline to examine the wound. 

"That beast is  _ dangerous," _ Snowy's Dae snarls. "First the fireballs, now this unprovoked attack—"

"Hey, your cat ran right over to Queenie, she was only defending herself—"

"What the fuck?"

This last tumbles from the vet's plump lips, slack as he squints at Snowy's neck. The other humans fall silent, then Snowy's Dae starts whining afresh.

"Is it bad? Is he dying? This is all my fault—"

"No, it isn't," Yixing says firmly. "It's not Queenie's fault, either—I think she was trying to help."

"Is it cancer? She was trying to bite off a tumor or something?"

"No, no, but Jongdae—we have to take Snowy to surgery. I think his 'allergies' are a bit more severe than we realized."

Snowy's human whines even more about this, aura too glaring to look at. Queenie closes her eyes, but she smiles when she hears a mewed  _ thank you. _

#  💘🔥💘

"No, Queenie, you can't go back there," her Chosen says, even though Queenie's hearing is very keen so she knows Snowy is out of surgery. She wouldn't hurt anything by going to visit him in the recovery room, but her Chosen refuses to let her go. She could get free, of course, but she's not willing to hurt her Chosen under any but the most dire of circumstances. She'd hated when his hand had been burned, even if it hadn't been directly her fault. 

Her Chosen responds to her frustrated huff with a soft little hum. "I know you just want to check on Snowy, but you've traumatized poor Jongdae enough, okay? Just let the man sit with his poor cat while he recovers from the anesthesia, just the two of them. I can't believe that metal hoop had been in there for—how long was it? Years? How did you know it was in there? Did Snowy tell you it was there? Can you really understand cats? You kind of sound like a cat sometimes, I guess, and you both like sleeping in warm places—"

A wordless yell interrupts the rambling of Queenie's Chosen, followed by a triumphant laugh. More yelling, then a cautious, "Snowy?"

"It's Minseok, actually, but it's cute if you want to keep calling me that."

A pause.

"Doctor Zhang!" Snowy's Dae hollers. "Why is my cat not a cat anymore?"

It's Yixing's fun assistant whose chuckle next tickles Queenie's eardrums.

"Oh, hey, a naked dude. Guess you were a shifter after all—Doc owes me a meal. No, no, you can keep the blanket for now—I'll grab you a set of spare scrubs to wear home. Mister Kim, I'm afraid keeping your eyes closed isn't going to make him change back. And why would you want him to? He's probably thrilled to have proper thumbs again."

There's a faint little whine. Then a pair of laughs, followed by a rather husky, "Oh, come on—it's not like I haven't seen  _ you _ naked plenty of times."

"Oh, gods!" Snowy's Dae wails. "Everything you've seen is  _ so much worse _ now that I know you were a shifter this whole time!"

More laughter. "Aren't you grateful now that I chased your hookup away?" the shifter asks, smile audible.

There's a wordless whine overtop the shifter's chuckle, but both quickly die away into bleak silence.

"Er, yeah. About that…" the shifter continues. "I can get my own apartment now, I guess, and—"

"What? Why?"

"Well. You didn't sign up for a human roommate, and I really have had enough of my feline shape for now. That, and I'm in love with you, but it occurs to me that you probably don't have the same feelings, I mean, I was just your cat—"

"Sno—er, Minseok. Please don't move out. I still feel, I don't know, I mean, I did think you were a cat at the time, yes, but I talked to you so much and I loved that it always seemed like you really understood me—I guess you actually did—and I did really love you. I mean, of course I wasn't  _ in love _ with my cat and it's all a lot to take in, but I still think of you as at least a friend even though you're actually a stranger, kind of, I guess I don't really know you at all. But I'd  _ like _ to know you better and we have a guest room, so you really don't have to move—"

"What if I want to keep sleeping where I always have?"

"...I-in my bed? With me?" A pause, then a little yelp. "Okay, not fair, you're so hot and you don't even have clothes on right now, please don't give me a heart attack right here in the vet's office, I don't think he's allowed to treat humans—"

The shifter laughs. "Well. If I'm staying, I suppose I can wait until we get home."

"I do really want you to stay."

"And maybe… to kiss you?"

"...A-and maybe to kiss me. But  _ not right now  _ holy shit please have mercy—"

The human's cute whining continues for several minutes before the assistant returns. A few moments after that, Snowy's Dae shuffles red-faced into the waiting room, holding hands with a handsome, white-haired stranger.

Well. Strange if his aura weren't exactly the same as Snowy's, except much brighter and more fluid than it had been when the human had first carried the feline inside.

The feline shifter smiles broadly at the sight of Queenie, striding over to crouch in front of her where she's wrapped in her Chosen's arms. He doesn't let go of his Dae's hand, and the look on the man's face as he's tugged across the room is rather comical. 

"Thank you, a thousand times," the shifter tells Queenie, big blue eyes solemn above the clean white bandage encircling his neck. 

_ You’re most welcome, _ Queenie answers, arching her neck gracefully.  _ I’m glad the humans figured out how to help you. _

"Me, too,” the shifter agrees. “I don't think it's exaggerating to say that I owe you my life."

His Dae makes a stricken sort of noise at this, throaty and sad, and the shifter smiles up at him gently. “I owe you my life, too, my Dae. You took such good care of me, I’m so grateful you were the one to pluck me out of that alley years ago. But I’ve always wanted to take care of you, too, and now, thanks to this benevolent creature, I can… if you’ll let me.”

“I-I still want to take care of you, though,” the human whines. “Look at you—your poor neck! And you’ve been so good to me already, always the best companion, improving my mood all the time and—” 

Winking at Queenie, the shifter rises gracefully to his feet and stoppers the human’s lips by pressing his own against them. “Then from now on, we’ll take care of each other,” he says, and Queenie’s keen hearing detects a bit of a purr behind the words. “Take me home, my Dae? The anesthesia still has me feeling rather drowsy. I need a cat nap.”

“We can nap on the sofa—that patch of sunlight from the bay window should have the upholstery nice and warm by now.”

“I would like that very much,” the shifter says. The smiles the pair exchange may be small and a bit shy, but both their auras flash warmer and brighter as a result.

Queenie smiles, too, settling contentedly against her Chosen’s encircling arms as the feline and his human exit the clinic, still hand in hand. Helping people is very satisfying, as is all the praise her Chosen heaps on her for being such a sweet and caring girl.

#  💘🔥💘

The second time may have been incidental, but the third time Queenie sets up a couple, it's deliberate. Her Chosen works with lots of people at the recording studios, several of which aren't human, though a few seem to be hiding or downplaying that fact. Queenie doesn't see why anyone wouldn't be bold about who they truly are, but to each their own. She sees no reason to expose anyone else's harmless secrets. 

She does, however, think it's dumb that two people whose auras clearly indicate mutual attraction fail to actually admit it so they can move from the blushing and stammering part to the lip-wrestling part. So when her Chosen's back-dancers keep insisting that they’re "just friends," she has no qualms about exposing  _ that _ secret. 

They’re very pretty, and their dancing is perfect together, but they’re evidently kind of dumb. After weeks of listening to them insult and punch each other instead of the lip-wrestling that everyone knows they'd rather be doing, Queenie has had enough. Even her Chosen has started making comments about the pair of them being married, comments that always make their auras go wobbly for a moment. Obviously someone has to give this pair a push, but Queenie’s not sure how exactly to go about it.

She can’t speak directly to either of them, like she’d done with Snowy. And locking them in a room together doesn’t seem likely to do anything, because the pair of them are alone together in the dance practice rooms for what seems like days at a time. A novel approach will be needed, but the opportunity for action doesn’t come for several more awkward weeks.

But then the one with skin like a lightly-toasted marshmallow, called Kai when he’s dancing even though he’s ‘Jongin’ the rest of the time, is in some pictures. They’re all in a shiny book with a bunch of other pictures and columns of words that Queenie doesn’t yet find intriguing enough to learn to make sense of. The pictures are certainly interesting, with Kai lying around half-dressed on some uncomfortable-looking stairs, among other things. 

When the office staff passes the pictures around to hoot over, Kai’s aura goes all frizzy and his cheeks flush pink. His distress increases when his unacknowledged mate, the one called Taemin whose taffy lips are always stretched wide around a smile, looks at the pictures. 

This is especially ridiculous. Queenie hasn’t spent much time around non-dragons, but she’s clever and observant. She’s seen enough to understand that those who wear clothing remove it either to increase comfort or display attractiveness, and the stairs in the pictures certainly don’t look very comfortable. Why would Kai display himself if he didn’t want his mate to look at him?

And Taemin really likes looking at Kai. He keeps taking the pictures to look at them, laughing and putting them back whenever he gets caught. But Kai is supposed to be his mate, so Queenie thinks Taemin should be able to look at him without all this fuss and interruption. Evidently Taemin agrees, because as everyone is leaving for the day, he makes off with the shiny pictures to the little room that Queenie isn’t allowed in. The room smells oddly sharp and acrid most of the time, so Queenie hadn’t had much of a desire to enter, aside from her innate dislike of limitations to her movement.

Sometimes, Queenie isn’t very appreciative of her exceptional hearing. And by ‘sometimes’, she of course means, ‘whenever her Chosen and his Yixing do their intimate mating stuff.’ She isn’t flustered by hearing it or anything, it’s just that sometimes her Chosen sounds almost like he’s in pain, and the pair of them do  _ not _ appreciate when Queenie tries to check up on him to be sure he’s okay.

But usually, Queenie’s proud of being able to hear what others generally can’t. Her hearing is particularly keen compared to humans, which enables her to alert her Chosen to things he may otherwise have missed. Like a redcap mugging, or a baby duck in a storm drain. He’d been really grateful that Queenie had heard these things and intervened.

So when Taemin starts making noises of distress from inside the little room where he’d taken Kai’s pictures, Queenie feels it her duty to alert her human so he can save his dancer from whatever surely-toxic thing is inside that forbidden stinky room. But her Chosen is focusing intently on the replay of today’s practice, ears completely covered by a headset.

When he doesn’t notice her mews, Queenie considers tugging at his pantleg, but her Chosen hates when his clothing is damaged. And while her Chosen is of course the best, most capable being in any crisis, Taemin doesn’t sound in immediate danger of dying. She doesn’t necessarily need to alert  _ her _ being, just someone with the height and dexterity needed to open the door without resorting to melting the knob.

“Jongin,” Taemin whines from inside the little room. “Oh, fuck, Jongin!”

Queenie tilts her head at the closed door. Taemin must be stuck, and now he’s crying for his mate. And Jongin is still here, wandering around, peering into practice rooms like he’s lost something.

Queenie wastes no time scurry-fluttering over to him, stretching her wings tall to make sure she has his attention. She doesn’t have room in the hallways to fly properly—and she’s still a bit clumsy at it—but her wings are excellent signalling devices for beings that forget not everyone’s as tall as they are (yet) and often neglect to watch where they’re going. Jongin smells like canines, though, and he’s always alert for what’s around his feet. So Queenie doesn’t have to work very hard to get his attention, even though he also has headphones in his ears.

He takes them out and lowers himself to her level. “What’s the matter? Is Kris ignoring you?”

_ Yes, _ Queenie mewls petulantly,  _ but that’s not the biggest problem right now. _

Few beings can understand her at this point, because she’s not yet learned more than the language she was born with. Someday she’ll be able to chat with anyone she so pleases, but for now, she has to show beings what she means. So she scampers to the door of the little room, stretching tall on her hind legs to prod the doorknob with her elegant snout.

“No, Queenie, you know you’re not allowed to go in there.”

_ Not me, _ Queenie rumbles, an indignant puff of smoke escaping her nostrils.  _ You! Your mate is calling for you! _

“Don’t be mad at me—it’s your papa’s rule. And there’s nothing in there you’d be interested in, anyway.”

Queenie stomps her feet on the floor, tail lashing in irritation. Taemin cries out again, sounding very agonized, and Queenie decides she’s going to have to melt the doorknob, after all.

“Hey!” Jongin shouts when she rears up and blows a test firepuff over the doorknob. He runs towards her, and Queenie flares her wings, neck coiling into a defensive posture. She hisses a little—she’s just trying to help! She doesn’t deserve shouting, she deserves praise!

Jongin comes to a stop a few wing-lengths in front of her, hands raised in front of his chest in a way that people somehow expect to be calming to others. It’s not calming, because his mate is hurt and trapped and he doesn’t even know—but luckily for everyone involved, Taemin calls out for Jongin again, loud enough that Jongin finally hears his mate’s desperate cries.

Jongin’s cheeks turn a lovely pink as his aura frizzles.

But he does not run to open the door and rescue his mate. He just stands there, jaw slack, hugging himself like her Chosen does when it’s chilly outside. Even when Queenie shoots another testing firepuff at the doorknob, Jongin doesn’t even blink.

There’s rustling and jingling from inside the little room, and then the door opens, really slowly, and Taemin peeks out. He jumps when he sees Queenie, aura wobbling.

“Jeez, you scared me,” he huffs.

“Don’t you mean ‘jizz?’” Jongin asks, arms now folded over his chest the way people do when they want to seem bigger.

“J-Jongin!” Taemin says. “Uhm. How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to hear you moan my name." He lifts his chin at the shiny pictures in Taemin's hand "Is my photospread really that hot?”

“No!” Taemin sputters, holding the pictures behind his back. “I mean, yes! I mean—I love you?”

Jongin scoffs. “What the hell kind of apology is that? ‘I love you, don’t kill me?’”

“No,” Taemin says, standing up tall even though his aura is all spikey. “I mean, I love you, and I have since we were teenagers, and yeah it’s super creepy to, uh, enjoy your photos like that in there but dude, I’ve been hiding a semi all day and I didn’t want to walk home in these clingy pants while I was still thinking about you spread out like that. So, yeah, I’m sorry, and sorrier that this is probably going to make things super awkward.”

Jongin blinks. “Why the hell didn’t you just tell me?”

“I didn’t want to lose you,” Taemin almost whispers, eyes wet. “I think I just did, anyway.”

“Did it never occur to you that I might feel the same way?”

Taemin freezes. “Uh. Well. Obviously not? I mean, you’ve always dated girls, so…”

“Yeah, because the only  _ guy _ I’ve ever been interested in kept bro-zoning me.”

“I—what?”

Jongin laughs at his mate’s befuddled expression, a soft sound like Queenie’s favorite fleecy blanket. He steps over to curl an arm around Taemin’s waist. “What I’m saying is, next time my photos give you a little  _ problem, _ let me help you solve it in person.”

And then  _ finally _ the two beautiful, dumb guys do the lip-wrestling thing, just a bit, auras wobbly but warming.

“Wait, no,” Taemin says, pulling away a bit. “This is not how we get together.”

Jongin pouts. “What? Why not?”

“Dude, I’m not telling people, ‘yeah, we would probably have been mutually-pining idiots forever if he hadn’t caught me spanking it to his fashion spread.”

Jongin laughs. It’s a lovely sound, golden and lingering, and Queenie chirrs a bit to herself, proud of a job well done. She preens a little, nibbling at an overstretched joint in her left wing before folding them both tidily on her back. No one’s hurt, the dancers have properly realized they belong to each other, so her job here is done.

Her keen hearing picks up the sounds of her Chosen removing his headphones, and Queenie scurries off to chasten him for ignoring her. As she goes, she can hear Taemin and Kai still chuckling together.

“We’ll say you just kissed me in the middle of rehearsal.”

“Why can’t we say I confessed all dramatically, with a huge bouquet and a heartfelt song?”

“Are you going to actually buy me a bouquet and sing to me?”

“Probably not.”

“Then I’m not telling people you did.”

“Well, why don’t you buy  _ me _ a bouquet?”

“You don’t even like flowers.”

“Still! It’s the thought, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, and my  _ thought _ is that you don’t like flowers.”

They’re still chattering at each other as Queenie patters up to where her Chosen is peering beneath the equipment counter.

“Queenie!” he says. “There you are—you disappeared! Have you been a good girl?”

_ Yes, _ Queenie mews, allowing her Chosen to gather her into his arms, pleased that he’s mindful of her wings and tail as always.  _ I’m the best girl, and everyone is lucky to have me around. _

#  💘🔥💘


End file.
